Vacuum cooker



Oct. 8, 1940. c; SMALTZ 2,217,624

VACUUM COOKER Filed July 1, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. .Jwien 5'. Km alfiz,

1940. J. c. SMALTZ VACUUM COOKER Filed July 1, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 mu q Tz mm H m 1, $11 M A a Li.

Patented Oct. 8, 1940 NITED STATES 7 VACUUM COOKER f V v John .0. jSmaltz, New York, N. 3L,v assignor to 1 Vacuum Candy Machinery Company, New York,

N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application July 1, 1938, Serial No. 217,108

W 1 Claim. (01. 159-23) The invention here disclosed relates to cookers of the type in which a solvent liquid is evaporated from the solution under treatment during the process; of heating" and cooking and par- 5" ticularly those'in which vacuum is "employed after the application of-heat has been-partially or entirely discontinued." In constructions of this nature, the rapid reduction of boiling point temperature undervacuum causes rapid and violent 1 ebullition and rapid release of vapor, the combined effect of which is to entrain and to carry off certain solids which should be left behind in the evaporation process.

r": Special objects of the invention are to accomplish faster, more uniform cooking and more rapid evaporation than has been possible heretofore and at the same time, to avoid and prevent the carrying off of the solids with the vapor.

Other objects of the invention are to provide 20 a structure making it practical to handle larger volumes of material; to provide a vacuum cooking vessel in a form which on the one hand may be quickly and completely sealed and on the other hand may be easily fully opened to enable 25 complete and unobstructed discharge of the contents; to enable operations to be readily observed and controlled to suit requirements; to enable a high degree of vacuum being applied to the cooking chamber and in general to pro- 30 vide apparatus wholly efficient for the purposes intended.

The foregoing and other desirable objects are attained in this invention by novel features of construction, combinations and relations of parts 35 hereinafter described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and broadly covered in the claim.

The drawings accompanying and forming part of the following specification illustrate one of the 40 practical commercial forms of the invention. The structure however may be modified and changed in various ways all within the true intent and broad scope of the invention as hereinafter defined and claimed.

45 Fig. 1 is a broken side elevation and partly sectional view of the invention as embodied in the form of a candy cooker.

Fig. 2 is a broken part sectional and elevation of the same.

50 One of the special features of the invention is the provision of the cooking vessel 5, in substantially horizontal tubular form with end doors 6, which can be opened up to expose the full interior.

55 By preference, the chamber is cylindrical in shape. A steamjacket 1, above the lower half of the cylinder, provides the heating means in the illustration, connections being indicated at 8 and 9, for supply and exhaust of. the.heating medium. The covers or end doors 6, are shown as making sealing engagement with the'ends of the cylinder by means of bevel seats 10, engaging correspondingly bevelled end faces II, on the cylinder. These engaging surfaces operate as bevel face Valves and the doors are mounted so 10 that they will automatically adjust and seat themselves on the ends of the cylinder. For the latter purpose, thefd oors are engaged at the centers on ball or universal mounts l2, carried by levers l3, which are pivotally hung at M, on supporting linksl5, pivo-tally mounted on top of the cylinder at l6. f These pivoted mountings are counterweightedas indicated at H, to enable the doors to be readily swung upward to a fully open condition as at the left in Fig. 1 and to be retained there in that open relation.

For clamping the doors closed, hand wheels are shown at'l8, engaged on screw bolts l9, extending from the base ends. of the links I5, through the levers l3. The hand nuts 18, thus can be brought to bear on intermediate portions of levers l3, to cause the latter, exerting pressure at the center at universal joints l2, to force the doors firmly and uniformly to theirseats against the ends of the cylinder. These hand nuts are shown as carrying shoulders 20, at the inner side of extension lugs 2|, of the'covers, so that the nuts can be backed off to draw the covers away from the ends of the cylinder, to clear the valve faces sufiiciently for the covers to be swung to the upraised open position.

The horizontal cylinder extends and spreads the mixture out in what may be considered a relatively thin shallow layer, where it is exposed to greater heating surface, effecting faster cook- 40 ing and presenting greater area for release of vapor.

To offset the increased tendency in such a construction for the rapidly and extensively released vapors to carry off solids in the solution, there is provided in the illustration a dome or central cylindrical vertically projecting chamber 22, providing an enlarged communicating vapor space in the top of the vessel, to which vacuum is applied by the vacuum line 23. This vertical 5o projection of the cooking chamber is of sufficient cubical contents to largely accommodate the released vapors and to thus form an exit section, which will permit the vapors to leave at relatively low velocity, giving time for gravity to act to release such solids as may have been entrained in the vapor and to return the same to the partially evaporated solution. To maintain low velocity flow, the vacuum line 23, is shown as of relatively large cross section.

To attain a high degree of vacuum, a condenser is shown at 24, interposed in the vacuum line adjoining the vacuum pump 25. The latter is shown asdischarging through" a. check valve 26, into a drain or suitable catch basini'l. A motor is indicated at 28, for driving of the pump.

The sprayhead 29 of the condenser is shown as connected with water supply pipe 30, and the latter is indicated as havingcaybranch 3|, for admitting water into the top of the vessel;

A valve is indicated at 32, for controlling supply of water to the condenser spray head and the valve 33, is shown for controlling admission of water to the cooking chamber. In the illustration, these valves are shown as having hand wheel extensions 34, 35, Fig. 1, brought out to the front or right hand end of the cooke'r.

The syrup, mixture, or material to beprocessed is introduced into'the vessel through a draw-in connection indicatedat 35, Fig. 1, which may be connected with a melting'kettle or other holder, where initial mixtures or preparations are made. This lineis shown as having a valve 31, by which such inflow is controlled. In charging the vessel. the vacuum pump will be operated to effect the reduction in pressure required for transfer of the syrup, or other material from the original container into the cooler, through the line 36, under control of Valve 31.

The connection 31 into the top of the cylinder is shown as equipped with a funnel'or receiver 38, provided with a valve 39, and by the combined use of which flavoring or other'materials may be introduced into the batch being processed in the cylinder. I

To enable conditions being known and properly regulated, a thermometer is shown provided at 40, in the front or right hand door and also a vacuum gage 4|. Further, this door is shown as carrying a sight glass 42, located in the upper portion of the door and through which action in the full length of the tube may be observed under light furnished from a lamp 43, mounted in sealed relation in the top of the dome 22.

'Ioenable admission of air to the cylinder to control the degree of vacuum or extent of pressure reduction and further to provide an emergency means for preventing solids being carried under possibly abnormal conditions of evaporation, there is shown provided in the one door, Fig. 2, a regulatable air admission hand valve 44.

While for structural reasons the cylindrical form of vessel is preferred, it is contemplated that the tubular chamber may be of other than truly cylindrical shape and that other changes may be made within the scope of the invention as defined by the claim; I

What is claimed is:

A vacuum cooker, comprising an open-ended substantially horizontally extending cylindrical vessel having a vertically projecting vapor dome, movable doors for sealing the ends of said vessel, means for applying heat to the lower portion of the vessel and means for applying suction to said vapor dome, said last means including a suction line, a condenser interposed in said suction line and including a spray head, regulatable water connections to said spray head, a regulatable branch line extending from said water supply connections intosaid cooking vessel, a shut. off valve in said branch line for preventing flow of water through said branch line into the vessel and a valved receiver in said branch line between said shut-off valve and the vessel for admitting flavoring or other materials into the vessel. 1

JOHN C. SMALTZ. 

